Words of Encouragement
by white pedal
Summary: (Takes place in Duelist Kingdom) After Joey was defeated by Seto, Yugi woke up to him cursing and crying. When Yugi asks him why he's so upset, Joey tells him the full details of Serenity's disease, and it's not just he sight that's on the line. Cute friendship oneshot:)


**_A Yugi/Joey friendship oneshot._**

_**Hope you enjoy:)**_

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><p>Yugi woke up to the sound of cursing in the distance, he looked around hazily and was confused from waking up.<p>

He saw Tristan, Tea and Ryou laying around the camp fire but Yugi noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Joey?" he asked himself.

He heard more cursing and it was getting louder and more angry. Yugi got up and went to where the yelling was coming from, when he was eight meteres from the camp he stopped walking.

He saw Joey punching a tree and cursing, kicking the ground and slumped down in defeat.

Yugi was starting to get worried fr his friend, so he stepped out of the shadows, "Joey? What's wrong?" Yugi asked with concern.

Joey looked up at Yugi with surprise, he was gtting teary-eyed and wiped his eyes before Yugi could see them,"Oh..hey Yug, what are you doing up?"

"I just got up because I heard someone shouting and cursing. That was you?" Yugi asked as he kneeled down to Joey's level.

Joey sat beside Yugi, looking embarrassed and rubbing his head, "Y-yeah, sorry about that, did I wake you up? "

Yugi laughed sheepishly, "Yeah just a bit," Yugi gave Joey a sympathetic smile, " So what's wrong?"

Joey froze a bit, but then he looked down clenching his fists with he previous frustration coming back ten fold, "Everything, Yug! I lost to that jerk Kaiba! How could I've been so dumb!?"

Yugi became worried for Joey, after he lost his duel to Kaiba tonight with the new duel disk he invented Joey became depressed, "It's okay, Joey. No one always wins at Duel Monsters. Even I lost a few duels when my grandpa first started teaching me when I was little." Yugi said.

Joey looks at Yugi with anger, but not at his friend but at himself, "You don't understand, Yugi! If I lose to Kaiba what hope do I have to win in this tournament! I got ahead of myself and that creep beat me to a pulp!"

Yugi was dumbfounded, sure Joey often lost at Duel monsters to Tea at school, but the defeat by Kaiba was something else. Joey usually got back on his feet afterwards with a big smile. What was going on?

"Joey, what's wrong? Why are you beating yourself up like this?" Yugi asked.

"Because by losing, I'm on the verge of failing my sister. And she's counting on me to save her! What am I going t do!?" Joey exclaimed in frustration.

Yugi blinked in confusion, was this about him fearing he would fail Serenity? "Is that what this is about? Joey, I know that you don't want Serenity to go blind, none of us do, but one loss isn't enough for you to lose all hope." Yugi explained.

Joey was silent for a very long until he spoke again, "...It is when your sister is going to lose more than her sight..."

Yugi was shocked from what Joey said, "What? Joey What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

"...Yug...don't repeat what I'm about to tell you to the others, this is to remain our secret, got it?"

Yugi blinked, but then nodded, "Okay."

Joey took a deep breath and looked out in the distance, not even facing Yugi as he spoke, "...Remember how I told you guys that the disease my sister has is hard to repair?"

Yugi nodded.

"...Serenity doesn't just have an eye disease that's making her lose her eyesight, Yugi...it's also slowly killing her...her disease is a form of cancer."

Yugi went wide-eyed in shock and horror, "Cancer!? Joey I'm...I'm so sorry."

Joey nodded continued, "The disease she has is called Retinoblastoma. A rare type of cancer that effects the eyes, when my sister was born the doctors found out and kept her for a week in the hospital to evaluate her. Because the disease isn't genetic or passed on from either side of my parents or their families, they found out my sister has the none hereditary version of it. We had to keep a close eye on my sister because of how deadly the disease could be and because of that she had to be in and out of the hospital all the time when she was small. The tumor in her right eye was too hard for the doctors to try and remove when she was little and decided to wait until it was stable enough to get out, there were even multiple times where Serenity almost had one of her eyes removed..thankfully they didn't have to.." Joey was on the verge of tears.

"Then when she sent me the video, she was in the hospital room and she was there because of a cancer scare and the doctors thought it was already spreading, thankfully it didn't. When she told me she was running out of time I knew the doctors told her that her tumor was getting worse and it was only a matter of time that after she goes blind and the tumor will spread to her brain and kill her! Not even removing her affected eye will save her! If I don't win and get her that operation to remove the tumor and fix her eyes in time, not only will she be blind for the rest of her life, she might end up dying to!" Joey started crying and burying his head.

Yugi was silent the whole time. So this is why Joey was so upset, it was bad enough knowing that Joey's sister was on the verge of losing her sight but he had no idea that the disease she had was also taking her life in the process. Yugi now knew that wth Joey, there was more at stake and not just his sister's sight, her life was in his hands.

Yugi placed his hand on Joey's shoulder as Joey buried his face in his hands, "That won't happen, Joey. You care too much about your sister to let that happen to her, and I know you will get the money for her operation and save her."

Joey looks at Yugi with blood shot red eyes from crying, "But how Yugi?" Joey chocked, "Time is running out and not only is my sister going blind, I might lose her forever from this, I don't want my baby sister to go blind, and I don't want to end up going to her funeral, and after Kaiba beat me tonight, how do I know I'll actually win?"

Yugi looked at him sternly, "Because you promised her. And I know you will never go back on that."

Joey sniffed, "I know did...but..I don't know if I might be able to keep it. Serenity's sight and life hang in the balance..and if I fail her...I really will be a worthless mutt like Kaiba said."

"You'll only really fail her if you give up. Joey, you made your little sister a promise that no matter what happens, you'll get her the money for her operation, and I know that she believes in you like we do. You came here to save your sister like I'm here to save my grandpa from Pegasus and we'll all do whatever it takes to reach those goals and we will win, and I know you will do it for Serenity's sake."

Joey blinked, "Really?"

Yugi smiled and nodded, "Of course, you're her big brother."

Joey wiped his eyes again and smiled at his friend, "Thanks Yugi."

Yugi smiled back, "Anytime Joey."

Yugi and Joey headed back to camp and both boys were in their train of thought. Yugi was shocked from Joey's confession about the full details of Serenity's disease. Yugi thought it was either Congenital Glaucoma or Degeneration that Serenity had to treat, but knowing her disease was actually deadly makes it worse and Joey is not only fighting for her sight, but also her life.

_"This is more serious than I thought!"_ Yugi thought to himself_, "I never knew that Joey's situation was worse than what he told us on the boat about Serenity going blind and needs an operation__. This is something he can't afford to lose or else it will cost his sister more than just her sight, it will cost Joey a little sister as her sight and her life hang in the balance! Time is running out for the both of us, but I know Joey can do it."_

Joey was looking ahead with his head held up and had a determine look.

_"Don't you worry Serenity, I will won this! but I promise you that I WILL save your eyesight and that the disease won't spread and kill you! You suffered enough from it and I will save you and make sure that you see good as new, see me duel and set you free from your death sentence! __I will make sure that you get the life that you deserve and finally be free, and you'll see your big brother again, I promise."__"_

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><p><strong><em>The end.<em>**


End file.
